How to Sell – Summary

Summary

As we said at the start of this short course, the popular view is that only some people can sell, and that salesmen are born, not made. We hope now that we’ve demonstrated that anyone can sell, and that the art of selling can be learnt in the same way as any process.

This classic approach divides the sales process into five stages: Qualification, Fact Finding, the Demonstration, Overcoming Objections and Closing. In reality, although you may try to run through those stages in that order, you should be thinking about all of those stages all of the time:

Juggling the Stages

You may “qualify out” in the middle of the demonstration when the prospect announces a key requirement that simply can’t be met.

You might be overcoming objections when qualifying the prospect and they are saying that the price is too high.

The prospect may announce some new requirement in the middle of the demonstration that needs further investigation.

There’s a sales saying “Always be Closing” and that is true, you should be doing mini-closes throughout the whole process to make sure the prospect is still on track for the final order.

Keeping Sight of the Objective

So you need to be alert through the whole sales cycle. Be aware of any new information that might come up, and be prepared to branch off and qualify, fact find, close, or do a mini-demo.

Always you keep your eye on the final objective of getting a purchase order. Keep steering the process back towards that goal and you’ll minimise the chances of getting lost during the sales cycle. You will finally close the deal.